The low-carb craze has mellowed in recent months, and consumers are enjoying sandwiches wrapped in tortillas more than ever. In fact, tortillas make up 32 percent of sales for the U.S. bread industry, trailing white bread by only 2 percent, according to the biennial State of the Tortilla Industry Survey. And tortillas aren't just plain flour wraps anymore.
Tortilla companies have created amazing wrap flavors like spinach, jalapeno, sun-dried tomato, garlic herb, onion and more. But Tumaro's Gourmet Tortillas, a 30-year-old corporation based in Los Angeles, has gone the extra mile by developing a line of wraps in delicious dessert-like flavors including blueberry, pineapple-banana, chocolate and apple-cinnamon.
Is there a market for these sweet flatbreads?
"Absolutely," said Brian Jacobs, vice president of Tumaro's. "They offer fast casual restaurants an opportunity to develop a whole new line of unconventional, premium desserts."
Not only are the items intriguing to the palette, they mesh well with the demands of health-conscious eaters. The tortillas are trans- fat-free, made with 89 percent to 93 percent organic ingredients, and are certified kosher.
There is no shortage of creativity when using the dessert tortillas. For example, bake a Tumaro's chocolate tortilla, load it with vanilla ice cream, and plop a cherry on top. Not only is the tortilla more healthful than the brownie often served as an ice cream companion, but many consumers actually prefer this more natural-tasting alternative.
And while there isn't much about cheesecake that can be deemed healthful, Tumaro's offers an excellent recipe for blueberry tortilla cheesecake. Instead of the graham cracker crust, which is loaded with sugar and fat, use a chewy low-carb, trans-fat-free blueberry tortilla.
Apple cinnamon tortilla "pie," made with Tumaro's apple-cinnamon tortillas, fresh apple pie filling, whipped cream, cinnamon and caramel sauce, is another creative application of a wrap. And like Tumaro's other new dessert twists, the fat content compared to traditional apple pie with its butter-laden crust is cut by almost three-fourths.
"You don't come away feeling stuffed" after you finish eating it, Jacobs said. "It's to-die-for delicious, but refreshingly light at the same time."
While the tortillas themselves are considered healthful, some food service establishments have put them to sinfully good use. Cheeseburger in Paradise (a partnership of Outback Steakhouse and Margaritaville Holdings Inc.) developed Chocolate Nachos, a blend of chocolate and flour nachos fried and sweetened, then covered with chocolate sauce, strawberries and colored sprinkles, topped with three flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. While this unique dessert wouldn't fall under the heading "Healthy Treats," it consistently elicits oohs and ahhs from diners.
In a culture obsessed with trying "the next new thing" — especially when it comes to things organic, low-carb, or low-fat — Tumaro's dessert tortillas have hit the sweet spot. Whether you want to keep them soft and chewy and wrapped around ice cream, fruit, or sorbet, or your naughty preference is to fry them up in a pan for a crispy treat, there are dozens of ways to manipulate these new wraps to keep your customers coming back for more.
